The champion team of IPL 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders, will begin their title defense at Eden Gardens on March 22 for the tournament opener of IPL 2025. The final match of the season will also take place at this iconic venue on May 25. Additionally, Eden Gardens has been selected as the host for Qualifier 2, scheduled for May 23.
After a decade, Kolkata will once again be hosting the final, with Eden Gardens previously being the venue for the 2013 and 2015 championship games.
The Qualifier 1 on May 20 and the Eliminator on May 21 will take place in Hyderabad, the home city of Sunrisers Hyderabad, runners-up from 2024.
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In 2025, the IPL will consist of 74 games played over a span of 65 days, including 12 double-headers. The first game of the tournament will see KKR take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an evening match. This will be followed by a Sunday packed with two matches- SRH vs Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, one of the most renowned rivalries in the IPL between two five-time champions.
The Royals, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans are scheduled to play three afternoon matches each, while the remaining seven teams will only have two day matches. As a reminder, last season’s afternoon matches began at 3.30 pm IST.
The schedule includes 13 venues, including the primary home stadiums for 10 teams. Additionally, Guwahati will serve as the second home venue for the Royals, Visakhapatnam for the Capitals, and Dharamsala for Punjab. Two matches will be held in Guwahati and Vizag, while three will take place in Dharamsala.
Despite typically hosting only two games per season at the scenic HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, Punjab will now have an additional match there this year as per the IPL schedule. Capitals, Mumbai, and LSG are set to face off against Punjab from May 4 to 11, making them the only team with a run of three consecutive home games. While many other teams will be playing back-to-back matches with short breaks, no team will have to deal with three consecutive away games.
Since the expansion of the IPL to ten teams in 2022, the teams have been grouped into two divisions. One division consists of KKR, RCB, Royals, CSK, and Punjab, while the other includes SRH, Capitals, Titans, Mumbai, and LSG. Each team will face all the others in their division twice and one team from the other division once – determined by seeding. The remaining four teams from the opposing division will be played once.
Despite not being in the same group, CSK and Mumbai will play each other twice.
Following their March 23 matchup, the two teams are set to face each other once again on April 20, which also happens to be a Sunday evening. This time, it will be Mumbai’s turn to host Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium. The first round of matches for four teams – RCB, Mumbai, Punjab and LSG – will all be played away, with their respective home games starting only in April. For RCB, who impressively managed to secure a spot in the playoffs last year after a slow start of just one win in eight matches, their league season will end with a series of home games: four out of their last six matches will be held at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
